


Transitions

by Little_Miss_Numbers



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Civilian travel, Dorvan V, Earth, M/M, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-25
Updated: 2014-11-25
Packaged: 2018-02-26 22:54:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2669429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Little_Miss_Numbers/pseuds/Little_Miss_Numbers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Voyager finally gets home and Paris feels lost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Transitions

**Final boarding call for Barisa Prime. All travellers should now be boarded at shuttle gate G10. Final boarding call for Barisa Prime.**

Paris opened his eyes and groaned. The echo from the Universal Translator still buzzing in his head in a way he was no longer used to. The station was busy, much busier than it had been when he'd fallen asleep earlier that morning. Filled with travellers of every size, shape and colour, as many non-humans as humans alike. Paris yawned, wipe some of the sleep from his eyes and wandered off to find some coffee.

 

\-- _When Voyager got home there were celebrations for weeks. First one large public one, then private ones arranged either by starfleet or family of friends of the crew. They were media darlings. The two enemy crews that had banded together after being stranded seventy thousand lightyears from any known space, and against all odds made it home in just seven years._

_Paris remembered one night in particular. It had been cool, at least by San Francisco standards, which meant the balcony overlooking the city was empty. And the whole city was quiet except for din of voices and clanging dinnerware coming through the glass behind him. He was so lost in thought that he didn't hear the automatic doors swish open behind him, or even notice the other presence until they leaned against the rail beside him._

_Chakotay didn't look at him but followed his eyes out to the harbour._

_"The sea was my first love," said Paris. "I never thought I'd see it again."_

_"It's very beautiful," said Chakotay. But didn't offer anything else. Letting the silence comfortably stretch between them instead._

_And Paris found he didn't want to speak. He wanted to hold onto this moment, this last day where they would all be together as a crew. The last night he and Chakotay could stand side by side in a comfortable silence and just enjoy a beautiful night._

_"Is it what you want?" asked Chakotay after a long while._

_The question pulled Paris out of his own head and he had to think for a second to understand what Chakotay meant. And even then he wasn't entirely sure. "Yes, I think it is."_ **\--**

 

Paris stood by a viewing port, savouring the bitter replicated coffee in slow sips, giving himself time to wake up. They were in orbit around earth, and even this far out, the area seemed filled with various satellites, stations and ships. He didn't envy the poor Starfleet space traffic controllers who had to coordinate it all. It was such a contrast from the quiet blue planet he had seen once from orbit centuries ago.

"Hello there, Friend." Paris turned around to see a small, wrinkled little man looking up at him with dark gleaming eyes. It wasn't a race Paris recognized, a weird feeling back in the alpha quadrant, but not as uncommon as some people would think. He reminded Paris vaguely of an earth rabbit.

"Can I help you?" asked Paris with a hint of irritation. He wondered if he was a panhandler and hadn’t figured the system here out yet.

"Actually, I was wondering what I might be able to do for you," he said in an oily voice and pulled out a small alien device Paris had never seen before. "With this I can give you whatever your heart desires."

"Yeah?" asked Paris, his lip twitching upwards in mild amusement over the cheesy turn of phrase. And as though he couldn't smell a con job a mile away. "For a price, I'm sure."

The alien's lips morphed into some weird twisted smile. "There's always a price."

"Yeah, that's what I thought," said Paris. "I'm good thanks."

"I see you," said the alien, his voice suddenly quiet. "You come in late at night and get a transport ticket for the next day. But you never get on." He looked at Paris with conspiratorial eyes. "Might I suggest that the problem is that you don't know what you want?"

Paris turned around, ready to tell him off for spying on him, but he had gone. When he looked back out the viewing port, all he noticed this time was how blue the planet was.

 

**\--** _Paris pushed through the oncoming waves until he was so far out he couldn't see the shore anymore. And even then he still kept going for good measure until his mouth and nose were filled with the sting of salt and he was so tired he couldn't think._

_When he made it back to shore he could see his sister, Moira, looking like an apparition in the sunlight. She was standing on the beach in barefeet, and her long black hair flying around, shapeless in the wind. She was so different than when he'd left, older, more introspective, surprisingly shy around the younger brother that she felt she had never really known but afraid she'd lost forever._

_"We worry when you do that," she said. "What if you drowned? We just got you back."_

_Paris grinned, a mischievous little brother amused at having made his sister worry. But she had nothing to worry about. It was one thing to let them ocean swallow him, another entirely to choose to stay._ **\--**

 

**Early boarding call for Federation Space Station Deep Space 9. If you have a ticket for Deep Space 9, please make your way to gate 12 Gamma. Once again this an early boarding call for the Federation Space Station Deep Space 9 at gate 12 Gamma.**

Paris looked down at his ticket. Around him various other travellers started to gather their belongings and make their way to the gate. Paris listened to two more boarding calls before he finally decided to move.

 

**\--** _Sex brings people together like very few other things can. And if the sex is good enough, people can overlook a lot of other things to get it. It never seemed to matter how immature the prank, or how serious the misdemeanor, no matter how angry Chakotay was at the time, his bed was always open that night. And Paris definitely tested this rule._

_But it was never anything but sex. No matter how tightly Chakotay held him afterwards, or whatever sweet words he might slip in between all the filthy things he seemed to save just for these nights, the next day they were always right back where they had been before._

_Their last night together was also their last night in the Delta Quadrant. "What will you do if it works?" asked Chakotay, his voice vibrating against Paris' neck. "Will you stay in Starfleet?"_

_Paris was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open. "I dunno. Probably should spend some with my family. Haven't really thought past that yet," he yawned. "How 'bout you?"_

_"I need to go home," he said. "Do what I can to help rebuild if I can."_

_Neither of them mentioned that this was the last time. That once home, everything would be different. Because that would mean acknowledging it. Admitting it was real, that this thing between them had actually happened. So Paris fell asleep and when he woke up Chakotay had already gone._ **\--**

 

The promenade on Deep Space 9 was packed, and Paris had to be careful not to run into anyone as he weaved his way through the crowds and past all the kiosks run by pushy Bajoran merchants, eager to sell him a jumja stick or some item of clothing made from finest Bajoran silk. One particularly determined merchant caught his eye and said, "You're a long way from home, human. You'd be wise to purchase a few maps and travel guides for this region of space. You wouldn't want to get lost."

"I'll take my chances, thanks." he said, pushing through. It was almost amusing, the idea that he of all people wouldn't know his way around this sector of space. A map of this station, on the other hand...he thought, knowing there should be a kiosk to charter shuttles somewhere in this area.

 

**\--** _Hundreds of years ago, you could stare up at the night sky and just see stars. It seemed hard to believe, thought Paris, as he looked up and the light from all the satellites and ships in orbit seemed to mostly wash out anything outside the solar system. But he had seen it. It was a simpler time back then, before interstellar travel. Where the furthest away anyone could be was kilometres instead of lightyears._

_"I thought I'd find you here." Paris sat up, and saw his sister Moira coming up over the edge of the hill he was on. "You know, this is where you always hid away when you were little. Sometimes I'd come look for you and find you've fallen asleep up here, and I'd have to pick you up and carry you home."_

_Paris always thought it was fitting that Moira had become a doctor. She had always been good at taking care of people. "It's the best place to look at the stars," he said._

_She came and lay down beside him so for a while they could stare up together. It wasn't usually her thing. Always the practical one, she tended to focus on things a bit closer to home, but tonight she didn't seem to mind. "I thought you'd be happier," said Moira after a while. "After being flung so far across space. But all you do is mope around and try to get yourself lost in other worlds. Aren't you glad to be home?"_

_"I don't know," said Paris, and it was true. Unlike most of the ship, Paris had been pretty happy in the Delta Quadrant. Lightyears away from all the messy issues he'd been caught up in in the Alpha Quadrant. Not to mention being allowed to pilot a galaxy class starship through completely uncharted space. But that didn't mean he hadn't missed Earth. And Chakotay's question was still stuck in his head. "I don't know if what I want still exists."_

_"Well," Said Moira tucking a long strand of black hair behind her ear, "maybe you should try to find out. It might be more productive at least "_ **\--**

 

"Are you sure you'll be OK?" asked the Bajoran pilot as he landed Paris on the small landing strip on Dorvan V. "Because there won't be any other shuttles coming through this area again for another 8 days."

"I'll be fine. I...have a friend here." Said Paris grabbing his small duffle bag and getting ready to disembark.

The shuttle doors opened and Paris was hit by a blast of hot humid air. 

A lot of people stared at him as he made his way into town, recognizing him immediately as an outsider, and in a lot of ways Dorvan felt more alien than most of the planets he'd visited in the Delta Quadrant. Sure they were mostly humans here, but that was where the similarities ended.

Outside of the landingstrip which was equipped with a basic short range communications system, Dorvan had no electronics, no modern technology, they didn't even have universal translators. And Paris found he couldn't understand whatever languages the people around him were speaking.

He was eventually greeted by an older woman with long braided hair, who asked him in Federation Standard if he needed anything.

"I'm looking for someone. His name is Chakotay."

"Tom?"

Paris turned around to see Chakotay looking very different than he was used to seeing him. Dressed like a local and his hair beginning to grow out a bit, he also looked more weather worn, as though he'd spent every moment since they'd last seen each other outdoors.

"What are you doing here?" asked Chakotay.

Paris shrugged but couldn't keep himself from smiling at the sight of Chakotay again. "I guess I didn't know what I wanted," he said.

He looked at Chakotay, his heart beating hard in his chest, and wondered if he'd understood correctly. But he needn't have worried as he watched a slow grin spread across Chakotay's face, and he went over to him and for the first time since leaving Voyager, Paris felt like he was home.

**Author's Note:**

> I was wondering what traveling as a civilian must be like in the Star Trek universe and everything else kind of spun out from there.


End file.
